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Russian spy was a double agent for U.S.

Sergei Tretyakov was an operative of the KGB, the former Soviet intelligence service. When the Soviet Union dissolved, the agency changed its name, but its mission remained the same.

Tretyakov was supposed to be running a press office at the Russian mission to the United Nations in New York. In reality, he was turning over a number of intelligence agents who, in turn, were trying to get information out of Americans and others at the U.N.

In 2000, Tretyakov became one of the highest-ranking Russian spies ever to defect to the United States. In 2004, he met up with journalist Pete Early to tell his story. Itâs now been published.

The book is Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russiaâs Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War.

In the second part of our interview, WMNF asked Pete Earley how Tretyakof was able to recruit so many staffers at the U.N. to work for the Russians.